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Scottish radio comedy is 'woeful'

...says Sony-nominated writer

A top sitcom writer says he finds it ‘crippling’ to work for the BBC in Scotland, because clueless radio bosses are producing ‘woeful’ comedy.

Sanjeev Kohli, who wrote the Sony-nominated Radio 4 show Fags, Mags and Bags, said BBC Radio Scotland played it too safe and produced too many bland shows.

He also blamed station bosses for not embracing enough up-and-coming talent.

Kohli, who also stars in BBC Two’s Still Game, told the Sunday Times Scotland: ‘It would be nice to think that the people who run BBC Scotland kept an eye on the Petri dish of talent that's out there but they clearly don't.

‘The stuff on Radio Scotland just now is just woeful, I actually can't listen to it because it's so pedestrian and monochromatic. It just doesn't have any comedy sensibility. So it can be quite crippling to work in comedy here.’

BBC Radio Scotland head Jeff Zycinski hit back, saying: ‘We are committed to launching lots of new comedy over the next year with new writers, performers and producers. The comedy is coming from a wide variety of sources, both independent and in-house. Not all comedy pleases everybody.’

Top comedy programmes on the channel include Watson's Wind Up, a topical show featuring impersonator Jonathan Watson, and Grr… The Sketch Show. Click here to listen to Friday’s episode of Gr…

Posted: 20 Apr 2008

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